All-Divide
by inkbender
Summary: Mikleo has already waited a millennium. He tells himself that he can wait another year more. At least, until the first human since Sorey was around physically tackles him into a mud puddle.
1. Chapter 1

_"You're_ _ **late**_ _, Jude!"_

Jude winces at Leia's sharp tone and almost drops his phone. "Sorry! I lost track of the time studying—"

 _"That is a poor excuse to leave a lady stranded at the train station in an unfamiliar city. Some creep's been eyeballing me for the past fifteen minutes, which he wouldn't be doing if_ _ **you'd**_ _ **been on time**_ _."_

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" As quickly as he can, really, though there are too many people in the streets for him to break into a full sprint. His sneakers slide across wet pavement as he skirts around a slow-moving couple, barely dodges a speeding bicyclist, and barrels straight into a lithe figure with so little presence that they've both hit the rain-drenched asphalt.

For a second, he's a little too disoriented to comprehend just what happened. His phone is no longer in his hand. He's lying on the ground—no, his hands are braced against a firm chest not at all like that of womankind, which saves him quite a bit of embarrassment when he looks up into pale lavender eyes. He frantically scrambles back. "I—I am so sorry. Are you alright?"

The body is motionless before him. He tries again, this time lightly shaking the man's shoulder. "Are you okay, sir?"

The white-haired man responds this time, silently elevating himself into a sitting position. Jude tracks his movements, noting a slight tremor in his limbs. The man's pupils are mildly dilated, though that's to be expected upon being unexpectedly tackled into a muddy rain puddle. There are no abrasions or lacerations on his hands or arms despite their high-speed collision; his (admittedly antiquated) aquamarine outfit isn't even that dirty. Still, it's a relief when he finally murmurs, "I'm fine."

Jude offers a hand to the man, apologies tumbling from his mouth. "I'm so, so sorry! I have a friend waiting at the train station who cannot wait but I really should have been watching just where I was going and… and…" The man doesn't accept his offer, doesn't make any sort of effort to remove himself from the puddle and return to his feet, and leaves Jude unsure of how to proceed. The man's gaze flickers between Jude's extended hand and his face before finally settling on him. It's an intense sort of scrutiny but nothing that Jude hasn't already experienced under Dr. Haus's tutelage; he just meets the man's stare and awaits the final verdict.

"You can see me?"

He wasn't expecting that. "Uh… yes?"

The man glances at his hand, appearing to deliberate for a full three seconds before tentatively reaching upward. The slender fingers that curl around Jude's wrist are solid flesh and bone and muscle if not slightly cool to the touch. Though it took absolutely no effort on Jude's part to body-slam him to the sidewalk, pulling him back up takes some exertion which assures Jude that this man is very human.

Now to find his missing phone. It can't have flown very far; at least, he can hope. Thank goodness nobody has taken notice of this embarrassing crash. Eh… he's not seeing the little device. His attention is drawn to the muddy water dripping off the man's teal jacket and he can't help but stare forlornly at the ripples that each drop causes in the puddle behind the man.

"Are you looking for this?"

The man has his miraculously dry phone held gingerly between his thumb and forefinger; Leia's tinny voice echoes from its functioning speakers. "Thank you! I…" It takes him a few seconds to scrounge around the pockets of his white coat for his business card (always handy to have when meeting potential future employers). "I'm a medical student at Talim Medical Center," he explains, swapping phone for business card. "I've an appointment that I'm running late to, but if you have any future muscle aches or internal pains that you just can't figure out, don't hesitate to call me. Okay?"

The man nods once. When Jude hazards a glance over his shoulder two blocks later, the man hasn't moved an inch.

He can't help but feel those lavender eyes on his back all the way to the train station.

* * *

Time is a funny thing. The humans underneath its manipulations have no choice but to live out their existences in an explosive blaze of action before spluttering into a quiet darkness. Through sheer willpower alone, Alisha and Sergei moved continents into peaceful alignment. The Interim Shepherd Rose traveled around the world alongside her Sparrowfeathers, promoting the faith till her dying day.

Seraphim are not bound by time. Their bodies are not limited by decay and their minds only need to follow the truth of the universe to avoid falling to malevolence.

In Mikleo's early days, his truth had been Sorey. He inhabited every second exactly as Sorey did because every second was indeed precious, a progressive step towards a series of goals set within the boundaries of a limited lifetime. So when Sorey was gone (much sooner than expected), Mikleo had been confronted with the reality of his existence: his path would be a long one, a journey in which seconds were just as meaningful as years. Decades spent wandering the ruins of the world as they popped up, settlements sprouting into metropolises only to wither into hollowed husks of forgotten history within the blink of an eye.

Most of his traveling he did alone. No human had yet to acknowledge his presence, even as malignant hellions gave way to neutral wildlife. He told himself he didn't keep the space to his right empty in honor of a man who could very well spend yet another century in slumber, just to purify the earth of every last trace of malevolence. It's something that Sorey would do.

Mikleo has already waited a millennium. He tells himself that he can wait another year more.

At least, until the first human since Sorey was around physically tackles him into a mud puddle.

* * *

"Didn't you say you needed to study?"

Jude rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "But this is your first time in the city…"

Sure that's true, and she can't say that she doesn't want to trapeze down its wild, neon-lit streets with her childhood best friend. But… "This has got to be an important exam if you forgot to pick me up. Com'on, just take me to some exotic grocery store. We'll just go back to your place and I can cook for you or something!"

"Ahhhh…"

"Don't give me that look!" She plants her hands on her hips proudly. "I'll have you know that after the Sulfur Incident, my dad took me under his wing—"

"To make sure you wouldn't burn down the house again?"

She jabs him in the side with her staff right in the unprotected fleshy region underneath his armpit and is rewarded with a pained squawk. Good to know some things never change. "Geez, Jude! Never have I ever burned down anything."

Jude folds his arms and waits. But it's true! She's never… well, there was that one time— "That doesn't count, Jude. No irreparable damage. And your father said it wasn't my fault."

Jude raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, and your father's also a jerk, so he doesn't count either. But _my_ dad's a world-class chef!" She levels him with a challenging glare. "If you can't put your trust in me, at least believe in the power that Chef Rolando bequeathed upon his hopeless daughter!"

The grocery store that he takes her to has many, many exotic items that Leia would have _loved_ to experiment with had she not been hell-bent on proving to Jude how she's totally competent chef. No Arma Dylan eggs or mandragora bulbs; prickleboar cutlets and roasted peppers should be fine, right? Maybe a little spice…

Jude's apartment complex is… well, he's a dirt-poor medical student, so at least it's not the room under the stairs that she'd prepared for. Still, the building is about as much as she'd expected: water-stained walls so thin that she can hear two guys porking it on ground floor, music echoing down the stairwell as they hike up to the third story, and the creepy skittle-scuttle of what she really hopes are not spider legs in the darker corners.

Oh Maxwell, those skittering noises better not be moving closer. "Jude…" she squeaks as he wrestles with his key in the jammed lock of his front door.

"Don't worry about them, Leia," he reassures. "Just a pair of armored centipedes. I leave bread crumbs out in the hallway so they don't have to lay eggs in my pantry."

" _Jude!_ "

"Home sweet home!" he cries, shouldering his door open.

She practically vaults over his head and into the kitchen. "I will end you, Jude, if you try anything funny," she snarls, kicking off her shoes at him. "There are pranks and then there's just cruel."

Jude just smiles serenely.

"I'm not kidding, Jude." She drops her groceries onto the counter. "Remember the dusk bats? There's more where that… came… from…"

Okay, so maybe not everything is as she'd expected. The sitting room is neat and orderly, typical of Jude; what is _not at all_ Jude is the presence of a scantily-clad blonde sitting on the ratty couch. Leia skips straight over her first impression, because she can confidently state that Jude would _never_ resort to… that. And one look at Jude's shocked expression tells her that Jude wasn't expecting this woman in his flat either. So…

Keeping her voice steady, she murmurs, "Jude?"

He jumps, his glance darting to her and quickly back to the stranger. "What are you doing here?"

A pregnant silence. The woman stares into the emptiness of the sitting room before her wine-colored eyes abruptly slide in Leia's direction. "Mikleo. She cannot see you."

She's suddenly the center of attention in the room. The woman's gaze is fine; Leia's never been one to balk at public scrutiny. But while her usual reaction at Jude's skeptical look is to jab him in the side with her staff with the assurances that she will always have his back even when the zombie apocalypse strikes, Leia isn't exactly sure where his uncertainty is coming from this time.

She laughs weakly. "Am I missing something here?"

Jude's gaze darts around the sitting room. She can feel the tension he's radiating as, after every rotation, his brown eyes land right back on her. Oh yeah, she's definitely missing something. Something huge. Something that requires Jude to slide in front of her defensively and use his Friendly Calming Voice: "Why are you here?"

"Jude Mathis," says the lone lady. "Are you aware that you are the first human to bear witness to the Great Spirits in a thousand years?"

…Yeah, she's definitely missing something.


	2. Chapter 2

Psychology is definitely not his scope of practice, but Jude's pretty sure he's gone crazy. How else can he explain the presence of four extra people in the room when Leia apparently only sees their stripperific leader?

The woman with the floor-length white hair covers her mouth with paper cards, her eyes fixed on Leia. "Oh dear."

"Oi, Meebo." The tiny blonde girl of the invisible group jabs her umbrella into the side of the man's knee. "Can we skip to the end this time where you just do your Thing?"

He doesn't like how their expressions morph whenever their looks shift in Leia's direction. There's an unquantifiable sense of joy when they address him that he can't explain either, but a surge of protectiveness wells up within him when they look upon Leia as if she's a threat even though she can't see them. (Or _because_ she can't?)

"Hey," he snaps at the man, drawing his attention away from Leia. "Why are you here?"

The man opens his mouth, but it's the leader who speaks. "Are you aware," she says slowly, "that you are the first human to bear witness to the Great Spirits in a thousand years?"

…Oh. She's one of those traveling evangelists. His hometown has a small church that infrequently sends its missionaries out to comb the village for offerings. Though usually they knock on the door, stay outside unless invited in, and wear more clothes. (And are human?)

If this was one of Dr. Haus's simulations, the most important thing for Jude to do when surrounded by civilians in a frighteningly new environment is to inspire confidence. He slides into the kitchen, putting himself between the man and Leia. "You broke into my house," he says as pleasantly as he can. "I think I should be the one asking the questions."

"You knocked me over first," reminds the man.

"I apologize, but honestly, it didn't even register to me until I realized you didn't feel like pavement."

"Inviseebo," the girl chortles. The woman hides her smile with her cards but can't mask an unladylike snort of laughter. In a surprisingly childlike gesture, the man kicks at the girl's shin; she diverts his momentum with her umbrella and almost trips him up.

Their leader's quiet tone immediately mutes the growing squabble between the man and girl: "But you, Jude: you have an elemental affinity for water, do you not?"

He blinks.

She flashes his business card at him. "You call yourself a student of healing. Your first conscious spiritual contact just so happened to be with that of the Great Water Spirit Undine. You are able—"

"Undine?" Leia leans across the counter cautiously, though curiosity sparkles in her eyes. "The Lady of the Lake from the fairytales?"

The man wrinkles his nose. Oddly enough, the white-haired woman mirrors his expression. "Earth-dwellers," the little girl mutters. "Can't even keep who's who straight after a few centuries."

"Even if you have never physically witnessed spiritual intervention," their leader presses, "you cannot say that you have not experienced it, Jude Mathis."

There's a sudden lump in his throat that he can't speak around. "I…"

Leia squeezes his unexpectedly sweaty palm. "We haven't," she declares with the confidence Jude wishes he had. "Miss, if you're with the church here, please tell them we, uh, we respectfully decline their services."

"You misunderstand," their leader says, rising from the couch. Leia's grip tightens as the barely-clothed woman approaches. "As the Lord of Spirits, I, Milla Maxwell, have come to request you of your services."

Jude chokes.

Leia pushes him back protectively. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave," she says, almost hiding the tremor in her voice.

The terse silence is broken by the umbrella girl. "Toldya so, Meebo. Humans will never believe what they can't see."

The man's face is hidden by his bangs. "No _._ "

"It's just going to happen again. The moment the earth-dweller gives into peer pressure and loses his faith, he won't be able to see us anymore. Save yourself the heartbreak and do your Thing."

"No."

"We can find Sorey just fine on our—"

" _No, we can't._ That's the problem, Edna. Two hundred years says that we need humans just as much as they need us." The man rounds on Jude and Leia, his voice cracking. "Please. You're the only one I can ask. I need your help."

Leia knows just as well as Jude himself that this is the ultimatum, the final cinch that seals the deal, the entire reason why he chose a medical profession in the first place. He can feel her bristling, a lungful of sharp rebuttals ready to head him off before he can commit himself to a half-baked proposition presented by complete strangers—but they're both interrupted by a rapid series of taps against the sitting room window.

"Crusade's onto us," says a man's voice. "I'll hold them off, but there's only so much a little wind can do."

The tension in the room skyrockets. Edna rises to her feet, umbrella slung casually over her shoulder. "Moment of truth, Meebo."

"I am requesting your assistance, Jude Mathis," says Milla. Her three spirits flank her, muscles taut underneath deceptively casual stances. "I need an answer."

His stream of consciousness snags on Maxwell over and over again; why does the name alone send his nerves into a frenzy, even he can't recall the woman herself? Has he ever met a Mikleo or Edna? Did his father…

He shakes his head. His father has no place in making decisions about his future. "Why do you need me? What do you need me to do?"

"If you can see spirits," Milla says, "then it is my hope that you will be able to locate the seraphim worthy of becoming my missing elements."

"I need you to find Sorey," finishes Mikleo. "I need you to find the Great Spirit of Light."

* * *

"Jude, you _do_ remember you have a life here, right? Y'know, like medical school?"

Things are preeeetty serious when Leia is the voice of reason. Like, really cereal. With milk. Because seriously, if Jude ditches school now, he'll have to spend the rest of his life working overtime night shifts at Wild Duck Burger to pay off tuition for the first semester alone while his dad visits every day just to stand in the background and shake his head and sigh obnoxiously. Plus, well, this is _med school_. Why drop the opportunity of a lifetime to chase after Bazonga Beauty and Her Magical Invisible Friends? (As far as Leia knows, Jude doesn't even like bazongas.)

"I'll leave a message for Dr Haus," he decides after a moment of contemplation. "Family emergency."

"Dr Haus knows your dad personally," she counters. "And then your dad would know. And what you're doing right now? Is _exactly_ what your dad warned—"

"My father has _nothing_ to do with this," Jude hisses, and wow, this is why her parents were so relieved when she changed her major from law to nursing. Bringing Dr Mathis into any sort of argument with Jude is probably the only way to get Jude really, really angry at you.

Backpedaling wildly, she stammers, "N-N-No, I was j-just saying that you should use a way more convincing excuse! Tell Dr Haus you've had diarrhea for daaaays. Something so excruciating that you need to be on or next to a toilet for the next week. And you'd never ever want to pass onto your patients."

Aaand she's already become an accomplice. Has she always been this stupid? (The answer is yes, because this is Jude.)

Buxom Babe tilts her head, as if listening to some ethereal spirit advice. Then: "Yes. Regrettably. But given our current threat level, it would not be advisable to leave the girl behind."

"Don't bring her into this," injects Jude.

Leia bars his advancing step with a straight arm. "Hey, bring me into this!"

"Leia, you can't."

She resists the urge to roll her eyes; however, Bang Bang Blondie cuts in before they can really get going. "Jude, on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you gauge the structural integrity of this building?"

He glances at her in confusion. "Well, as long as the central support cores remain standing…"

"Gnome!"

For all Leia can see, no apparent change comes over Bodacious Bonbons. Then the woman slams both palms into the brick wall separating Jude's apartment from the starry sky and Leia abruptly has an excellent view of the city at night. The entire detached wall moves as one gigantic mass of plaster and stone straight outward, dislodging the guys in sneaky black outfits who'd roped themselves down from the rooftop and hung waiting just outside Jude's window.

"Undine!"

A tornado of clear blue water materializes out of nowhere and douses a few projectiles, gathers up building debris and secret agent alike, and whisks them off into the darkness.

"Crusade has seen you with me, the both of you," the woman says calmly, as if she hadn't just… hadn't just spontaneously pulled elemental forces out of thin air. "I cannot guarantee your safety unless you allow me to escort you to the seaport."

"Wha… Y-You just…" Yes, _now_ pull out spiritual freakiness and creepy assassins. Did she just sign up to be the token helpless bystander in a magical girl anime? Leia fights to keep her voice steady as she pulls Jude towards the nearest exit. "Crusade? They're after _you_?"

Some invisible force grabs onto Jude's front and nearly yanks him out of Leia's grasp, but she didn't spend the majority of her existence to lose hold of him now. "Run first, ask questions later," says Bumptious Bimbo in a voice so monotone that she could read _Icha Icha Paradise_ to children and nobody would suspect her of any wrongdoing. Her tone is so composed, in fact, that Leia barely realizes that she and Jude have been tossed through the gaping hole in Jude's apartment into open air until her stomach shoots up into her throat and stops a scream from passing her lips.

"Slyph!"

A fierce whirlwind roars out of the woman's outstretched hand and cushions their three-story fall. Her feet touch down on the pavement as if she's simply skipped a step and this is the point where her brain decides to take a breather, because why bother marveling at the… magicness of magic… when running for her life is much easier on her sanity?

Jude's feet are a little harder to move than her own, but a sharp elbow into his weak spot elicits that familiar yelp of pain that brings the both of them back to the task at hand: running for the nearest escape route as a soaring wall of flame almost literally covers their backs. Something explodes. Several somethings explode. Hot gravel stings the back of her neck.

"Jude, you have officially ruined big cities for me!"

"Never a dull moment!"

She wants to whack him the back of the head for joking while _everything_ is _on fire_ , but the asphalt beneath her feet abruptly decides to shoot for the sky, a piston of concrete and earth that launch her and Jude like human pinballs. It takes a moment to orient her flight in a way that doesn't involves spinning and flipping and screaming, but by the time Leia has secured her safety upon a nearby rooftop, the entire street they'd been on seconds ago is shrouded within an ominous purple mist.

She's flown a bit farther than Jude and landed on the next building, but Pointed Looks are way easier than Words anyways. The Slightly Shaken But Brave Stare that he returns, violently illuminated in brilliant orange by the abrupt ignition of the previously poisonous vapor, is not what she'd been hoping for. Tonight's last departing ship sounds its final horn a few blocks away, sealing the deal.

All she'd wanted to do was sneak powdered slime glutton into tonight's prickleboar noodle stew without Jude noticing. Where did she go wrong?

* * *

They're sort of in a hurry, so Jude throws a fistful of gald at the startled kiosk cashier, points in the general direction of the ship, and follows right on Leia's heels because their escape route is already leaving. Leia's staff actually survives when she uses it to vault onto the boat; Jude, on the other hand, has to settle for diverting all his energy into his legs and leaping.

From the moment his foot leaves the dock, he's aware that he's not going to make it. He's not a very tall guy, okay? Yet another one of many reasons he keeps Leia around to make up for his… shortcomings. This is the part where she's supposed to pop over the side of the ship and catch him. He's already passed the peak of his arc, his fingertips just shy of clearing the bulwark, and if she doesn't appear _right now_ he's going to bounce off the hull with nothing but the chill ocean to—

A gloved hand envelops his just in time. The hand is anchored to a body whose mass fortunately outweighs his; the man it belongs to wastes no time in hauling him onto the boat. No comments from the peanut gallery about dislocating shoulders either—just a lighthearted, "Cutting it a little close there, don'tcha think?"

His foot snags on the railing and, for the second time this day, he full-on tackles another stranger to the deck. The pecs beneath his open palms are broader and sturdier this time around, muscle palpable even through a rough leather overcoat and the sleek silk of a large black scarf. Whereas Mikleo had been lithe and of so little presence that Jude didn't see him till they were on the ground, Jude is acutely aware of this man, of the rapid acceleration of a heartbeat underneath his right hand. A corner of the brunette's mouth quirks upward in a wry smile as he quips, "I'm more used to this kind of thing happening in your bedroom, but out here's just fine too."

Jude's face bursts into figurative flame; he sits up so quickly that he can't keep his center of gravity from shifting beyond his hips and promptly sits in the man's lap— _eep_. His heart is actively trying to scale the back of his throat right now. People could light cigars on his face.

"Thanks for saving my awkward friend." Leia grabs the back of his collar and pulls him the rest of the way off the man's body. "We owe you one!"

"No problem," the man grins, propping himself up on his elbows. "Just a stowaway helping out his fellow stowaways."

"We paid!" he protests.

"We did?"

"Enough to pay for both of us, plus— _Milla!"_

The woman herself quite literally flies into sight, borne by a gust of air that gently deposits her upon the ship deck. The moment she touches down, her entire body flashes with light as the Four Great Spirits spring into existence around her. As far as Jude is aware, the manifestation of each elemental spirit is radiant enough to light up the entire deck and reflect off the black ocean all around; however, this is unseen by Leia and the man, who don't even flinch.

"You have now personally experienced what it means to be involved with me," Milla states, her eyes jumping from Leia to Jude. "This is your chance to back out."

 _You are the first human to bear witness to the Great Spirits in a thousand years. You're the only one I can ask._

From his position directly behind Milla's left, Mikleo's pleading eyes meet Jude's. That's all it takes for Jude to reaffirm his conviction. Ignoring Leia's exaggeratedly melodramatic sigh, he nods.

"I'm staying with you." He smiles as warmly as he can. "Allow me the honor of being the first human to welcome you to the land of Elympios."

* * *

 _A/N: While I started and have been more active on FFN, I am slowly transitioning to AO3. Find this story over there! Same title (All-Divide), same username (inkbender)._


	3. Chapter 3

He might be the Great Spirit of Water, but Mikleo doesn't really like the ocean. While it is probably is the final frontier when it comes to ruins (more than enough civilizations have sunk beneath its endless waves), it's precisely because of that sense of infinity that Mikleo avoids it. The ocean makes him feel tiny, an insignificant particle fated to wander along its aimless current. The ocean reminds him that he is alone.

"Yo, Mickey boy!" Zaveid wraps a tanned arm around his shoulder. "Pouting at a time like this?"

Okay, so not alone… but lonely. Always lonely. A millennium's worth of loneliness. That its end is potentially within sight reignites a burning hope in his chest yet simultaneously crushes him with reminders of all those false leads, the wild goosechases, the undeniable feeling that Sorey is awake _but is not here_. A new doubts festers within him: after hundreds of years, why should his loneliness change? Why should—

"Damn," sighs Zaveid, leaning back against the railing. His head lolls to the side and he looks up at Mikleo out of the corner of his eye. "You've still got the brooding teenager personality down pat."

"Hey!" Mikleo smacks him on the shoulder. "I'll have you know I'm a thousand years old."

Zaveid closes his eyes. "Still as terribly unsocialized as the day you left your backwater mountain village. Just how much of those first few centuries did you spend alone?"

When Rose had passed, they'd all gone their separate ways. While it was surprisingly Edna who made the greatest effort to touch base with him every century or so, searching for new ruins and marking their locations in his book for (Sorey's) future reference might have swallowed Mikleo up for a good era or three.

He grits his teeth. "Can we not talk about this?"

The wind spirit chuckles. "Jus' sayin'… when you get to be as old as I am, you learn that there are some things you can and can't live without."

"Like women?"

"Don't you worry, Mickey boy; you'll hit puberty someday." His face scrunches up a little in contemplation. "Or maybe not. Just know that a certain earth spirit we all know and love is always available should you ever feel the need to— _yeouch._ "

Edna extracts her umbrella from the dent in Zaveid's hip. "You were the one moaning his name in your sleep."

"Aw Edna, we were supposed to keep that night's festivities a secret, weren't we."

"My only promise was to keep your performance issues under wraps, old man."

Mikleo tries to hide a smile. He'll never admit it aloud (not as long as Zaveid keeps bashing Elysia as a hillbilly wasteland), but traveling with spirits again is refreshing. He'd still take the majesty of the quiet mountains over their traveling circus of seraphim any day, but… when the Lord of Spirits had introduced herself as the century's latest Shepherd (and when he'd seen Zaveid and Edna and Lailah at Maxwell's side), he couldn't say no.

"Trouble's brewing," Zaveid mutters. Mikleo stiffens; all of Zaveid's characteristic playfulness has evaporated, leaving a man ready for action. Edna instantly dispels her form and travels straight back to Maxwell to relay the information while Zaveid continues to read the winds. Mikleo channels his senses into the surrounding ocean. Their boat is an expanse of wood around him. A pod of whales dive quite a ways away, their songs rumbling across miles to reach Mikleo's consciousness. A few quick moving speedboats skim lightly across the sea surface, heading straight for them.

"North," he says. Zaveid's already moving, pulling up massive gusts of wind and flinging them at the sails. The ferry lurches as it abruptly strays south from its course. Mikleo assists as much as he can, but there's only so much he can do with a superficial current.

Interestingly, Maxwell's Squire is the first to appear on deck. His gaze darts from Zaveid to Mikleo, then shifts sternward. "Pirates?"

"Not sure yet."

"This is a passenger ferry, not a freight," Jude frets. "There are nothing but people on board."

Blips of orange light appears on the horizon; cannon report follows seconds later, each rumbling detonation prefaced by the outcry of a dying fire spirit. With each shot, Mikleo's hopes that these are just pirates dies slowly. It's Crusade. No one else would be so brash as to sink an entire watercraft, casualties be damned, to end the Shepherd and her Great Spirits. Worse still, Mikleo can't even hope to combat it without Maxwell's endless reserves of mana to back him up.

"We don't have time!" shouts Zaveid, apparently able to read seraph as instinctively as he can read the wind. "Armatize with the Squire!"

Orange warmth brushes against his face as he looks to the earth-dweller. Human eyes really are windows to the soul: irrational fear barely covered by a false bravado yet bolstered by the burden of responsibility, the desire to help, and the need to protect. Jude is just like Sorey in that aspect—one look is all Mikleo needs to know the truth.

He's made the right choice. This boy will be the one who will finally guide him back to Sorey.

This will the human's first armatization. His first direct-tether. Physical contact can help reduce the shock of the experience, so Mikleo offers his hand. Jude envelops them within his much larger ones. Fists of a warrior, this one is: firm, supportive, reassuring. Remarkably fitting that he chose to become a doctor.

"Summon me."

"Undine!"

Mikleo isn't expecting the surge of mana that greets him as he and Jude become one. Certainly not as overwhelming as Milla, but humans for the past centuries have been completely devoid of mana, unable to interact with spirits except through the act of merciless slaughter via spyrix use. Jude catches Mikleo off guard even though his rhythm is cautiously slow, gentle pulses of energy that fill Mikleo with a sense of warmth and power he hasn't felt since… since Sorey—

"Any moment now!" Zaveid squeaks.

 _Sorry to ruin your first time,_ Mikleo apologizes before spreading his access point wide. Ignoring Jude's startled gasp, he shouts, "Maelstrom!"

There are witnesses on deck who cannot distinguish the power of Mikleo within Jude. They only see Jude lift his arms to the night sky and draw the furious ocean under his command. A gushing vortex of water sucks in the flaming projectiles while generating tsunamic waves. Screams echo through the interior of the ferry as it pitches dangerously.

"Any help here?" Mikleo shouts. He barely manages his footing as the twister's violent surf washes over the bulwark and pushes him back towards the cabin. His barrier of waterspouts is doing a great job of drawing in Crusade's missiles and smashing them against each other, but only one shell needs to slip through in order to endanger the integrity of this watercraft.

Lailah stumbles through the ocean spray to his side. "Mist me?" she laughs weakly.

"…No. Just… no."

"That wasn't my best," she growls. "I'm out of my element, after all."

She channels a bit of fire energy into his attacks; the resulting violet storms detonate rockets on the spot. But it still isn't enough; the first bomb slips through their elemental screen and collides with the mast. Fed by Zaveid's winds, its blast sets off a bright yellow firestorm that instantly disintegrates the sails and would have shortly consumed the boat as well had not Lailah unleashed a forest's worth of paper tags into the conflagration. With the papery inferno now under her direct control, she pushes outward until the ship is encapsulated within a terrifyingly protective bubble of fire and ashes.

"Slyph!" calls Maxwell, instantly fusing with Zaveid. "Cloudburst!"

The thousand spears of wind shot through Lailah's fiery shield are themselves ignited, resulting in a 360-degree spray of flaming spikes that decimate the attacking Crusade forces.

 _That should do it,_ smirks Mikleo.

Distress breaks loose within Jude's mindscape. The pandemonium of emotions are not of Mikleo but he feels them nonetheless; no doubt Jude also senses his contemptuous reaction when he scowls, _What is there to be afraid of?_

In lieu of a response, Jude swivels about and faces the ship passengers crowding the deck. Like idiot moths drawn to a flame, the inquisitive humans cannot help but swarm en masse upon their designated object of interest until terror overcomes curiosity and forces them back. The result is a very clear demarcation between seraph and human, and the Squire… poor, naïve little Jude can't comprehend why his own kind despises him, why even his female friend dares not cross that invisible line between human and spirit. Really, all he has to do is look around: everything that sails the seas in a mile radius around this very spot, Crusade speeder or not, is on fire. Humankind has not borne witness to the power of the Great Spirits in over a millennium. Humankind fears what it does not know… and they'll destroy whatever frightens them.

He turns to the Slyph-armatized Maxwell. "We need to leave," he says in Jude's voice.

Milla nods. "Yes. However, even as Slyph I will not be able carry your weight. Can I trust you to make a stable vessel?"

"I can. It'll be chilly, but I can." He scans the crowd one last time, ignoring wary human glares to search for Edna. His eyes briefly connect with those of the Squire's friend and, in that split second, she flinches. She doesn't recognize him. She doesn't know him.

Without warning, Jude unceremoniously evicts Mikleo from his mind.

* * *

As if wracked by a full-body shiver, Jude convulses once before losing all muscle tone in his body.

While Leia has spent the last five minutes completely unable to approach the strange man with lavender eyes who'd looked and sounded a lot like Jude but was _most definitely not_ , she's already looping an arm around his waist when he begins to topple. _Oof_. He's put on some weight or packing on some muscle or whatever. Good thing the man with the scarf had caught Jude when they'd "boarded" the ferry, otherwise Jude would probably be at the bottom of the ocean clutching her detached arm.

"We can't," Jude says. "The sails have been destroyed and the ship is stranded. We can't leave these people behind."

"But you probably should," says a familiar voice; the tense crowd reshuffles a bit before ejecting Scarf Man himself. "I'd say that most everybody wants you off the ferry just as much as you do, so how 'bout this compromise: you, me, and your lady friends take the lifeboat to shore to alert authorities?"

Boobilicious Bo—

(Erm, though after witnessing the fiery windy elemental magic light show, Leia should probably start referring to the Lord of Spirits as Milla freakin' Maxwell…)

…Milla nods curtly. "Very well then. And you are?"

"Alvin."

"Milla."

"Just Milla?"

"Just Alvin?"

"…Leeeeeia!" She puts on her best beaming smile as all eyes swivel in her direction and bounces her hip against Jude's. "And this is Jude. Just your normal college-type kids, we are."

The man with the scarf rocks back onto one foot, folds his arms across his chest, and smirks at Milla. "Touche. Very well then, Lord Milla. Shall we head out?"

Milla turns to the people. "Are there any objections?"

Save for the howl of the ocean breeze through holes scorched through the sails, nobody answers.

Jude speaks up, though he falters as the eyes of a hundred apprehensive eyes snap at him. "Rest… Rest assured that, as soon as we reach an area with cell phone service, we will call for help. We won't leave you behind."

Silence.

Leia tugs him away before he can crumble underneath the deafening silence.

"Land! Solid land!"

She might be dramatizing this a little, but never has Leia been more thankful to have her two feet upon the (relatively) steady beach. Sure, it's only been fifteen minutes since she, Jude, Milla, and Alvin boarded a dinghy that seemed spacious enough yet felt incredibly crowded, though she can't say that she can recall much of the experience.

Boats weren't meant to fly. That is all.

"I take it your phone didn't survive the trip?" says Alvin. Leia's more enamored with the globe of fire that seems to have settled itself next to her. Freaky… but functional. And so warm… mmm. She's sitting down and warming her hands before she knows it, ignoring the discomfort of sand immediately wedging its way under the hem of her shorts. Ugh. She'll deal with that problem later.

Milla trots to Jude's side. "Your electronic device does not work?"

Jude follows Leia's lead and seats himself. "No."

"Yeah… most machines aren't waterproof," Alvin says reproachfully.

"I suppose so. Truthfully, I've given up keeping track on the progression of human civilization."

"So you admit to being Maxwell."

"I never denied it." Milla's eyes close too long to be a blink as she carefully sits down. "I simply avoided agitating already frightened humans. It seems that this generation of mankind no longer seem to remember the Great Seraph Maxwell who'd once cast his blessing across the entire continent of what is now Elympios. Rather, they treat it as if it was an ill omen."

"It's not just that," says Jude. There's a small tremor in his voice that snaps Leia out of her warmth-induced stupor. She scoots over until her shoulder bumps up against his and maintains contact till his shivering subsides. "Maxwell isn't just a name; it's a taboo. It's a conspiracy theory that nobody talks about. My father… He always hid me in the basement whenever the government came around for its annual consensus, because it's supposed to be a special task force that investigates supernatural occurrences. Anybody too involved just… disappears." He glances at the empty space to Milla's direct left. "All those passengers on the ship, they saw how I controlled the ocean. As soon as they're rescued, the government will know too."

Alvin shifts uneasily. "I get the taboo about Maxwell, the ninja-boogeyman that my cousin used to tease me about; that's common enough. But if what you're saying about this secret organization is true, you do realize that it goes both ways, right? Everybody on that ferry was a witness. They were involved."

"They were already involved," he murmurs.

Before Jude summoned Undine, got lavender eyes, and started throwing water around while acting like a stuck-up idiot? The only event of note that Leia can think up is the repeating reports of cannon fire from all those attacking speeders after Milla…

She recoils from Jude in surprise. "You can't be saying that Crusade and Maxwell are the same thing."

Silence. The floating fireball casts flickering orange lights across Milla's passive countenance. Alvin isn't wearing that perpetually smug expression anymore. Jude's face is entirely hidden by shadow.

"Right?" Leia tries again. "I mean, that doesn't make sense. Everybody knows Crusade is a terrorist organization because they're loud and proud and like to blow up churches and temples. Nobody talks about Maxwell because they look like your normal government inspection agency, except people vanish quietly when they're around. They're like two opposite sides of the… the same coin…"

Their tiny camp circle falls quiet until Alvin says, "They could be the same or they could be separate organizations. What matters is that they're both after our Lord of Spirits here. That means us too. Her traveling buddies and all that jazz."

"But we're safer," says Leia, "traveling in numbers. Right, Jude?"

A small pause ensues. Jude seems to be thinking, but he could be listening to Milla's invisible spirit pals discussing the best _Icha Icha_ novel published yet and she'd never know. The spirits could be doing anything and she'd never know. Maybe that's why Crusade and Maxwell organizations are anti-spirit; if they can't control it, they'll destroy it. But if they could have seen just how much of a blessing Milla's Great Spirits have been to her and Jude…

Speaking of which, has she been sitting right next the warm, friendly Great Fire Spirit without taking the time to thank him (or her? or it? Do spirits have genders? Would it be rude to ask?) She has the irresistible urge to stick her hand around the fire, just to see if she can make contact with him/her/it. Maybe the power of friendship/love/faith can give her the ability to _touch_ a spirit's body, to give them a friendly pat on the shoulder in thanks. Though she'd probably end up sticking her hand into an inappropriate place instead, like their chest or face or something. Yeah, let's not do that.

"The people on the boat were witnesses, sure," Jude finally says, getting to his feet, "but I'm sure every one of them would rather be alive and in jail that drowned at sea. Let's go. Since our cell phones don't work, we need to find the nearest city that does so we can call for help."

The flames bob upwards until it's floating next to Milla at waist level. See? Totally helpful!

Without further ado, she, Jude, and Alvin follow Milla and the Great Spirit of Fire into the darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

_They wanted to shoot down the sun, so they kidnapped Lailah. Fighting fire with fire, I guess. Milla stormed their facility and pretty much blew it to kingdom come. Lailah was freed and all the earth dwellers died. Yay._

* * *

"Jude, my man! Already onto Edna so soon after Mikleo? You do your old man proud."

Zaveid claps him on the back so violently that he would have faceplanted into the ground if not for Edna's innate iron stance. The images flickering through his mind, straightforward and succinct as they are, vanish the moment the earth seraph pulls herself free of his mana lobes and reappears beside Zaveid.

"H-Huh?" Jude's eyes dart frantically between his fellow seraphim. "We weren't… I wasn't…"

"Direct-tethering solely for the sake of direct-tethering?" Zaveid crows gleefully. "Jude, my boy. Jude. _Dude_. With Sorey, nothing was possible, but there may be hope for you yet."

Seconds later, Zaveid writhes on the ground while clutching his stab wound.

Edna reholsters her umbrella. "Direct-tethering doesn't have to be a pleasurable experience," she explains, almost gently. "It doesn't have to be anything. At its simplest definition, direct-tethering is a mana-driven link between human and spirit. You give me mana. I give you a spirit's blessing. I don't know why Mikleo thought carnality would be an okay blessing. I just felt like it'd be best to update you on the situation by directly showing you my memories."

"So you've probably noticed," Zaveid says, momentarily pausing his squirm of agony, "that Edna's held the world title of _Worst Storyteller Ever_ for the last thousand years or so."

"I like to keep things short and sweet. Like me."

"She wasn't even there," Zaveid declares. "Now, me? I can show you the full story…"

* * *

 _Crusade was but a recalcitrant mob of counterculture youths desperately seeking justification of their existences through the annihilation of all else. Why else would they seek to destroy the sun, the greatest source of warmth, light, and life in our dying, forsaken world? To that detestable end, they abducted our dearest Lailah and confined her within a strange apparatus that drained all fire spirits of mana to charge a massive lance-like weapon. Perhaps they speculated that a massive laser generated from the purest Fire would be able to overcome even the sea barrier that encloses our world and protects us from the empty void of merciless space—OUCH._

Edna slings her umbrella back over her shoulder. "Jude's going to fall asleep."

"O-Oh no, I'm fine. Really. Keep—OUCH."

"Can't you feel those tears? Hurry up and get this over with."

 _Oh Edna, ye of little centuries (and painful parasol pokes). The remnants of earth may crumble to dust alongside the sands of time, but the wind shall never cease to whisper precious memories even if it be to the empty sky. When you have lived as many millennia as I, you learn that the world's greatest, everlasting treasure—besides womankind, of course—is that of The Story. So respect your elders and listen._

"Basically, all you need to know is that the Great Spirit of Wind chose a perverted old man as its vessel."

 _Shut it! Anyways… it was only moments later when I encountered our great Shepherd, known only then as Milla. The poor girl was aware only of her existence as a human being at the time. Though she openly respected and dwelt with a multitude of seraphim in peaceful harmony as was common in the isolated mountain village of Elysia, she had nary a clue that the Great Lord Maxwell lay dormant inside her soul. And that was where I came in: a gentle wind seraph who provided unto her sleeping heart the all-consuming power of love, who begot—_

"I feel the need to add that Milla was six years old at the time."

 _W-W-Well. Yes. Thank you, Edna. I-I must clarify that, uh,_ _ **fraternal**_ _love between the newly awakened Shepherd and his first seraph knew no bounds. And I declare that, as her first direct-tether, I was as gentle as a newborn lamb and as generously providing as—_

"Six years old, Jude. We're talking human years here. FYI."

 _Um, I… Continuing onwards! Alas, I could no longer sense the passionate flame that had burned within Lailah's soul for centuries. Yet the moment I armatized with Milla, I could feel her desperate cry for assistance, so we rode the winds towards Lailah's flickering presence. As we neared the facility, Milla heard for the first time the anguished swan songs of the murdered fire spirits, the palpable despair of our dying Lailah, of the ill-wrought mana that disappeared into the human-constructed weapon… and she awoke to her identity as the Almighty Maxwell, Lord of Spirits. With her power, she amplified the extracted fire mana with my winds; together, we gave birth to a firestorm that instantly incinerated all trace of Crusade from the land._

 _Alas, the murdered spirits could not be revived, so Lailah took it upon herself to absorb their essence: their pain, their joy, the sprawling experiences of their fleeting lives. In that moment, Efreet rested his eyes upon a seraph with enough compassion to host the power of a hundred thousand dying stars and selected her to be the vessel of the Great Spirit of Fire._

 _And I? Though I was naught but a lowly wind spirit who had roamed this barren land for many moons—_

"Heeey Jude!"

Edna grins at Leia. "On that note, why don't we take a breather, Squire? Your human needs attention. Zaveid, get out of him."

 _Hold on, I'm not done yet!_

* * *

Leia doesn't like being left out of the loop.

It's not anybody's fault. If anything, it's her own stupid fault for… for not being able to see spirits. Ugh! It's not like she even made that decision. Try as she might, all she can see of his invisible pals are the evidence they leave behind after they work their magical wonders. Like the floating fireballs that have been lighting their way through this dark night. Meh. She can't change who she is, so the best she can do is get somebody else to update her on a normal basis.

"Heeey Jude!"

As far as she can tell he's walking by himself, so why wouldn't he want to chill with her for a moment? …Of course, he just so happens to be holding a conversation with a spirit and takes a moment to respond to her. "Leia?"

"I…" What happens if she runs through a Great Spirit? It might be cool to phase through Efreet or Undine; what would earth spirits in general even feel like? There are a ton of things she's curious about but doesn't dare ask for fear that it could be super rude or whatever. Leia's pretty familiar with sticking her foot in her mouth, so she settles for, "Um. Are you. like." She gestures. "Talking?"

"With you? Yes."

"That's not what I meant! Like. Before. Who?"

"Oh. Lailah's the one holding the fireball up in front, Edna went back to join Mikleo inside Milla, and Zaveid's right here."

Inside… Milla?

She… she'll think about that one later…

"Slyph?" Isn't Slyph supposed to be a scrawny little girl surrounded by razor-sharp blades of wind? "Oh! Tell me what she looks like!"

Jude's eyes wander in Milla's direction. After a few seconds, he grins a little. "Uh. Mikleo was saying—he's Undine, by the way—he was saying…" He glances to his right and promptly blushes. "Never mind."

This whole situation really irks her more than it really should... because it really shouldn't… but she and Jude have been integral parts of each other's lives for as long as she can remember. To be unexpectedly blind and deaf to a significant chunk of Jude's world knocks her so off her game, she barely knows what to do with herself anymore.

Jude stumbles forward as an invisible force pulls him to her. He stops a foot away, listening. Then: "Hey Leia? Try holding my hand."

"Eh?"

"I'm going to try closing my eyes and… Lailah's telling Edna not to try anything. Just give me your hand."

Leia can't describe the sensation that comes over her in the next moment, except that seems to originate in her palm and radiate up her arm. Sorta like a tingling disorientation. She reflexively takes half a step back.

Jude stares into the space between them. "I guess that answers _that_ question, Lailah."

Huh. Was that…? She holds her hand up to her face. "Was that Efreet not-touching me? That's so cool!" She sticks her arm out. "Do it again!"

Jude blushes furiously.

She snatches back her hand immediately. "I touched the naughty bits, didn't I."

"N-No—"

"You're lying. That's your lying voice. It's the one you use when you're trying to be nice, and we both know the truth hurts, but at least it isn't blatant lies. Just say it, Jude! I touched Efreet's naughty bits!"

Jude's face is as red as Efreet's flaming body. (The male Efreet she remembers in her fairy tale books, at least.) "Please stop," he huffs. "Leia, just give me your hand."

"Nah. Not falling for that trick again. For all I know, I could accidentally cop a feel on Gnome's manly manhood. I'd rather—OUCH _._ " Some staff-like object just stabbed her hip and… _dang_. Guess this is a lifetime of payback for poking Jude with her stave. She hobbles away from Jude and his abusive friends until she latches onto the arm of the only other normal person in their party. "Alvin, buddy! Let's hold a conversation that I can actually, y'know, hear and participate in."

The man doesn't flinch away from the strange girl who'd just glomped his arm. "Can't put up with half a conversation, eh?"

He might be a complete stranger, but Leia instantly likes him. " _Yes_. Oh man. I cannot even tell you… Well, you already know, so let's talk about something else. Like where you came from, Mr Mysterious."

He stiffens. She feels the tension ripple down his arm and instantly releases him. Ugh! Why can't she stop sticking her foot in her mouth? She doesn't even like feet, but she can't help it!

"You don't have to answer that," she blurts. "Elympios is a big place anyways with tons of ferries from everywhere. I've probably never heard of the town where you're from. I bet you've never heard of my village! It's the most unremarkable city in the world if you're asking me. The only reason my parents' inn is still running is because my dad's a pretty famous cook. He made it to the semifinals on _Hellion's Kitchen_ , didya know? Chef Rolando! I'm his daughter!"

Alvin gives her an appraising look. "Huh. The curry you made earlier did taste familiar."

His compliment makes Leia's heart swell with pride. She'd tried to season up the dish with some pixie wing dust; that _somebody_ had managed to detect and recognize any sort of flavor underneath the eye-watering spice is a win in her book.

"Yeah, well, he's made his rounds in Elympios," she says proudly, "but he spends most of his time at home nowadays. He's a pretty great dad."

"Never heard he had a daughter though."

"Yeah, about that… Mom was pretty big on separation of public and personal life. When Dad first made it big and paparazzi came snooping, she pretty much forced me to live at Jude's for a month."

"Your boyfriend?"

Her rod is faster than her brain, which has never really been a good thing. However, her jab into the vulnerable spot under the armpit is met by a solid _thwack_ as he parries with the steel of his gunblade, _where did that gunblade come from._ He's already moving to counter, he's moving crazy fast, and it's all she can do to block with her flimsy wooden staff before he slashes across her chest.

His broadsword is still coming down upon her when a thin stalagmite shoots up and pops Alvin in the wrist. It must have literally struck a nerve because all his fingers spasm and he releases his grip on the firearm; Leia barely has time to sidestep as Alvin's weapon cartwheels past her and buries itself at Jude's feet.

"Play fair, soldier," Milla says from up ahead, not even turning around to speak to them directly. "Metal on wood is hardly a fair fight."

Disgruntled, Leia opens her mouth to object— _this pole has survived lots more than a dumb ol' sword, it even vaulted me onto the ship_ —but Milla has already continued onward, taking the source of light within her.

"Soldier?" she asks.

"Mercenary." In the fading light of Milla's departure, she has to rely on sound alone to detect the meaning behind his words. Lighthearted. Probably smiling. "Almost like a soldier except we don't have to follow orders, we set our own hours, and we help people. For a price, of course."

"Huh. So how long have you been in the business, Mr Mercenary?"

She can't read his face in the darkness, but the ensuing silence definitely feels stiff and awkward. She quickens her pace towards Milla's light, if only to get a gauge on Alvin's nonverbal cues.

"So, Jude: boy… toy?"

His teasing, unoffended tone is such a relief that she answers right away to distance themselves from the previously awkward pause. "Jude and I have been together for as long as I can remember… which actually isn't very long, since we're both amnesiacs. My entire childhood and a good chunk of my preteen years is one big blank. I just woke up one day in Jude's house… and maybe that's… well, y'know when baby birds imprint on the first thing they see? Maybe that's what's going on. Anyways, we're pretty much family."

They've mostly caught up to Milla and Jude at this point, so she manages to catch a glimpse of Alvin's raised eyebrows. "You lost your memories, you say…"

"Is that a problem?"

"Oh no." The charming smile is back. "You seem to know him as well as you know yourself."

"Well, he's the kind of idiot who'll throw himself at the feet of anybody who cries for help, so it's my job to keep people from walking all over him." At least, until he left her to work in the city under Dr Haus. She wonders if this semester was as hard on Jude as it was for her: a constant unease in her chest, only relieved with the anti-anxiety medication that Dr Mathis compounded for her—and completely eliminated the moment she saw Jude at the train station.

"Is that so."

"That includes you too, buddy!"

"Hey, hey." He whines good-naturedly. "What've I done in the few minutes we've been 'buddies' makes you think I'm a threat?"

"Uh, only the fact that you don't like talking about yourself." She tries to put a playful spin on her tease, but the affronted silence that follows makes her want to eat her socks. Again. "Whiiiiich I am totally cool with! Everybody has secrets and that's okay! But, um, don't take this personally, but it sorta puts you in a vulnerable spot. And Jude, compassionate medical student that he is, wouldn't hesitate to throw himself under a bus if it made you smile. So I'm just here to kick your butt into gear if you start manipulating Jude for your own evil purposes and all. Got it?"

"You're going to have to get a metal staff if you're going to come after me." She still can't see his face, but his tone is lighthearted enough. "We'll pick one up at the next weapons shop."

"I'm serious, Alvin. Just-Alvin. He might have a black belt, but his big stupid heart bruises easily."

Alvin glances up ahead at Jude, who's speaking in low tones to seraphim only he can hear—but his gaze in the flickering firelight is a thousand miles away.

"I can't make any promises."


End file.
